Thread regarding Northwestern Mutual layoffs

You're calling this site washed up and for losers, yet you're literally here. On a weekend? Maybe, take your own advice?

Proving my point. Investing your limited time on this earth (especially during your golden years) hanging out on some washout website. Going to therapy will help you move past this unhealthy obsession and you can maybe spend some time with your spouse and grandkids instead.

Thank you @3tf+1jj5kn1sm!!

@3s3+1jj5kn1sm You gave me a good laugh suggesting I see a therapist because I have a passing interest in what’s going on at a company I devoted nearly 40 years of my life to.

I also look at the thelayoff site for Walgreens, I’ll be sure to mention that to my therapist as well even though I never worked at Walgreens and don’t even shop there! LOL Walgreens hired our good friend NS as their CIO and he brought along his minions including Erick R who I had reported up to when ER was at NM. Talk about a sheet show. It seems to follow NS wherever he goes. He’s getting blasted by thelayoff Walgreens posters. NS still does his What’s Up comedy routine to try to cheer up the troops as the company is rapidly headed towards bankruptcy.

When a question is posted in the thread, the original poster tends to get downvotes and it seems that no one is willing to respond. If someone does step in to answer, they often face backlash from others. I asked him about the pension benefits and he responded. Based on his previous post, I believe he’s recently retired and I was pleased to see his response this morning. so I gave him first upvote!

Sorry, but how sad is it that you quit NM years ago and still linger on this washout board? I’ve had multiple jobs, each for many years, and while I’ve kept in touch with friends when I left, the thought of the other companies occupies exactly 0 space in my brain. It’s so clear you’re either lying and still work here, or you have some serious mental hangups. In either case, I really think you need to see a therapist. This isn’t healthy.

3ph+1jj5kn1sm My NM pension is outstanding, thanks for asking. $60K per year plus annual cost of living increases. NM stopped their excellent pension plan in 2013 and switched to the current cash payout plan so I also received a nice cash payout in the form of an IRA when I retired from NM. Haven’t had to take a penny out of my 401k yet. After retiring I took on an IT position at a much saner company with a better culture and better pay. Hint: Our new president is CM so I’m working for that clown again.

@dv+1jj5kn1sm
What pension benefits did you receive? Since you're here, I just want to make sure you had a peaceful goodbye, right?

Whoa post about “fun facts of friday” author goes missing.

And there it is. DEI took an airplane down. What part of DEI was flying an Army helicopter in the wrong place and not doing what they were instructed to do by ATC?

Had 4s; unable to give 5s

Everyone I know got a 3 this year.

DEI took down an airplane and it has already taken down parts of NM. How much longer before Tim implements an MEI program?

I'm an esd manager and we are not requires to give out 2s or 1s. We are limited in 4s and 5s though, that one is true.

Indian managers in esd showcased favoritism and promoted all testers to software engineers. They just hidden them like easter eggs in their team. Now DG has to play the egg tapping..... lol

Okay, by friday you tapped me. Is the 'Fun Facts of Friday' spammer in the list? dude was a tester but made a significant contribution as a fulltime dancer for DEI at every event. he showcased stunning visuals in a yellow costume alongside SR.

@180+1jj5kn1sm Supposed to be out on Friday.

Color and gender not considered in bell curve. At least not in ICS. I’m not sure about IRC or ESD. If anything bugs eye gives higher ratings to females - two females.

Color and gender are factors. I've personally witnessed it. It might not happen in your department, but it does in fact happen.

There is absolutely a bell curve. Your color or gender not factors. There is no WM “quota”.

We had the same in ESD push of 20 percent quota. Employees are not liking the messaging during their reviews. Every employee has mentioned the HR lady saying there isn’t a bell curve. Frustrating command and control in ESD leadership.

Could you provide details on the outcome of each of the rating scale (1 thru 5) on the hike, AIP & promotion?

I'm a former manager and several of my former co-workers have reached out saying they got lower than expected performance reviews this year. One person who traditionally was scoring 3s got a 2 because of stack ranking within their group.

I had my (ESD) review, and while my leader says “they” fought for it, it’s the successful. My leader mentioned their team only had 20% for HS/E and less than 25% in past years. I’m wondering if those extra points were because of all the USAA talent. Honestly, pay-for-performance feels like a joke—more like a high school popularity contest, where the one with the most Botox wins!

Now I understand why the ESD / USAA team will only do remote meetings and nothing in person, complete joke of a group. The moral of the teams is no longer to be above and beyond as there is no way to be highlighted / rewarded.

But be onsite for your three days, do as I say, not by my example.

I bet timmy rated 5 for outstanding in the field. His score 275 + 5 =280!

Best place to work…. 😂

Others would get successful. Heard sounds about meritocracy.

Oh well now that I have that context...its really disturbing to know that I work with people that think like this.

nice one. but forgot letter s, *dodos

I'm guessing something about a color (W) and a gender (M). As a decade plus leader I've never heard that be a major factor in the ratings calibration though.

Please someone answer the question what does WM mean?

Old grandpa had a team
E-i-e-i-o
And in that team he had some dodo
E-i-e-i-o
With a money movement here
And a modernization there
Here a moo, there a moo
Everywhere a Moo-Moo .....

Is that y we got the AI (All India) leaders out? Are you sure we're going to discontinue DEI? It seems like there aren't any other AI leaders left. They were all very talented & beautiful. Aww we have to live with the botox faces. I feel AI robots are better now.

WM does mean waste management. We are calling them to take all the DEI garbage out of NM thanks to our new President. The future is finally bright.

@f2+1jj5kn1sm By BP did you mean blood pressure (or) billing payment? Please reply soon, very eager to know. I wouldnt fall asleep without your response.

SR’s trail of destruction will have lasting effects for many years to come.

Someone asked what does WM mean but none bothered. Does it mean waste management?

@f3+1jj5kn1sm You seem to be holding on to SR even though she has moved on. Maybe your rating is based on your own poor performance. You can’t take it and are trying to place blame anywhere else.

To the two examples given, I think you just have a bad manager (it happens) or are really building weak cases for your people. If someone is getting 5s year-after-year, there is absolutely increased scrutiny on them and their cases get picked apart. I've seen many junior managers get mad that the case they built or the case they got from their direct wasn't strong enough to compare against others. Not all managers own this message well and it might come to you that a quota was hit or some other excuse. Here's my honest advice: it is your job to fight for your people and build the strongest case possible for them. This isn't easy to do, but if you look inward and blame yourself for the person not getting the rating you wanted for them, eventually you'll get better at these things and learn how to fight for your people the way they deserve.

You didn’t receive a highly successful because you weren’t highly successful, maybe? On my team it seems like almost 100% of people think they were highly successful. Successful is just that—you successfully performed. That’s good. Not everyone going to get a 1st place trophy.

SR was notorious for keeping WM’s down while she gave all of the higher ratings and promotions to her WIT cult. Thank god she is gone. HR went along with it so don’t expect any help from them.